how can it be said that a person without Jesus in their heart will suffer eternal damnation in hell, when your descending into hell marks a beginning?
An eternity means all time, past, present, and future, so shouldn't we believe then, by definition, that those that are going to hell have always been in hell?
2007-01-29 03:26:53 · 11 answers · asked by Wanda W 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I prefer to think of eternity as beyond time, or a timeless state. I don't believe in hell, but I've experienced that state of living in fear and anxiety(screams and gnashing of teeth) and it sure felt like an eternity. There is no hell after you die though, unless you are creating one there as we do here. But it's only temporary, no soul is forever ignorant.
2007-01-29 03:38:08 · answer #1 · answered by ? 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Jude 1:7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Is Sodom still burning? Actually eternity in the bible is an uncertain amount of time and it depends on the subject. Humans are mortal, so eternity will be short. God only has immortality (read 1st Timothy).
Dead people don't go straight to heaven or get hell right away. The dead must resurrect first.
2007-01-29 11:33:06 · answer #2 · answered by Cyber 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is a very good and thoughtful question. Much better than what we usually get here. And I don't have an answer. Imagine that!!
I will have to ponder this for awhile. The best I can think of now is that we fall into eternity when the created world is destroyed. But I am not sure if that is the answer either.
2007-01-29 11:34:22 · answer #3 · answered by tonks_op 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hmm... No I think the argument is flawed (not least because logic is useless in theistic arguments) eternal can just mean endless. Endless burning in hell - which I don't believe in.
You have a thought, it remains thought (as in past tense) forever. However, the was a time before you had it... see?
2007-01-29 11:31:38 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Eternal means -- ahee-o'-nee-os
From G165; perpetual (also used of past time, or past and future as well): - eternal, for ever, everlasting, world (began).
It CAN have a beginning but means "perpetual"
Infinite would mean "no beginning or end"
2007-01-29 11:34:17 · answer #5 · answered by impossble_dream 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
One of the names of God is eternal, and so saying that someone could receive an Eternal punishment could also be said they will receive God's punishment
2007-01-29 11:39:38 · answer #6 · answered by Joseph 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes they are already in hell in there ways of doing and thinking...thats why they do not feel to change hence why the will spent eternity in hell..
2007-01-29 11:31:28 · answer #7 · answered by Pastor Biker 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
ETERNITY, IN A THEOLOGICAL REFERENCE, MEANS FROM THE BEGINNING OF TIME AT A PERSONS DEATH.
2007-01-29 11:33:09 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Since Hell doesn't exist, I see no problem at all;)
2007-01-29 11:32:20 · answer #9 · answered by Love_my_Cornish_Knight❤️ 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Wow, this is what happens when you try to find reason in irrational things.
2007-01-29 11:31:53 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋